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White DaisiesIt is thought that the name "daisy" is a corruption of "day's eye", because the whole head of these charming flowers closes at night and opens in the morning. The earliest daisies were white, although cultivars have been developed in many colors.
A daisy chain is a garland created from the daisy flower, generally as a children's game. Daisies are picked and a hole is made towards the base of the stem, generally by piercing with fingernails. The stem of the next flower can be threaded through until stopped by the head of the flower. By repeating this with many daisies, it is possible to build up long chains and to form them into simple, floral bracelets and necklaces. The English daisy (Bellis perennis) is a wild flower with short creeping rhizomes and small rounded or spoon shaped evergreen leaves. It is not destroyed by mowing and is therefore often a weed in lawns in western Europe (although some people deliberately sow them in their lawns, because they find the effect pretty). The outer florets are white to (in cultivars) light pink and the small fertile central florets are golden yellow. This, the true daisy, is native to north and central Europe, and was introduced into America in colonial times. The Painted daisy (Tanacetum coccineum, formery Pyrethrum roseum) has pink, red, purple, or white flower heads. The roots of this plant were once used as a remedy for fevers. Dried heads were the original source of pyrethrum-based insecticides. The Shasta daisy (Leucantheum X superbum, formerly Chrysanthemum maximum) is horticultural variety developed in California (U.S.) and is a perennial growing to a height of 60 - 90 cm (2 to 3 ft.) It is apparently a cross between Leucantheum lacustre from Portugal and L. maximum from the Pyrenees. The Transvaal daisy (Gerbera jamesonii) is native to South Africa. This plant is known as Barberton daisy in England. Considered the most decorative of all daisies, some cultivars bear flower heads as much as 30 cm (12 in) across. Florist's gerberas are usually a cross between G. jamesonii and G. viridifolia.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Daisy" and from http://www.white-on.com
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